An anti-Semitic column published in a newsletter in Belgium, saying that Jews are no more welcome on the Belgian coast because of their behavior and comparing them to Nazis, has created an uproar.
The article by an anonymous writer in the Zwinkrant, a Flemish regional free publication distributed in Knokke, a seaside resort on the Belgian coast famous for its beaches, says "that it is no wonder that we do not love Jews, they consider themselves supermen like the Nazis."
The article reads: "Did you ever try to walk on the seawall in May? It seems that the whole Diaspora troops gather there. Men with their hair curls, their funny aprons and black hats, women in wigs and long stockings, the whole world belongs to them. Do they let you walk ? No way. We are the chosen people. And then they wonder why we don’t really love them."
The column also refers to Jews wearing the kippah in the West Bank settlements "who don’t stop annexing lands at the expense of Palestinians."
According to the Jewish magazine Joods Actueel, the city’s authoritiers decided to remove the magazine from distribution. Mayor Leopold Lippens deplored the incident and declared:"What nonsense is this? On the coast, everyone is welcome, we are all Belgians, this can not but luckily the Zwin Newspaper barely seen or read."
The magazine’s chief editor, Guido De Ville, refused to give in to the Jewish community's demand for a right to answer and spoke rather of a “satire”.
He affirmed that his newspaper has nothing against Jews. "In the Jewish community there are many people who are open to fun and humor and are not extremists," he said.